3: Surman

4: Celtfunk

Killer LP from John T. Gast, now reissued on high quality wax, via Milanos Haunter Records.

John T Gast is something of a polymath.
On Inna Babylon, he crystallises his far-out, dubwise sound ever further through a catalogue-spanning reverence and manipulation of UK Dub aesthetics, with results that are totally unsurpassed in the admittedly unpopulated musical region he occupies. Inna Babylon progresses through various styles, often within the same song. The overarching structure here consists of several behemoth tracks (Jah Guidance, Surmon and Babl Calling), which stretch well beyond 7 minutes and up to 10. Instead of developing single ideas, these unfold more like multi-movement suites than individual tracks, a little like Burial during his grandiose 13 minute phase but with a far greater sense of internal logic. Jah Guidance maintains a cacophony of almost-tonal noise that in turns elevates and suppresses the booming drums, which themselves morph in ways that trick you into thinking there are drastic tempo shifts throughout the song.

Surman, like Jah Guidance, allows a superb sense of structure to unify its disparate elements, broadly dichotomised into the drum-crazy, electro-related opening several minutes and the stunningly beautiful bridge, a sombre combination of synthetic birdsong, minor-key pads and the illusory rumble of a faint kick drum keeping time. Another highlight has to be penultimate track Celtfunk. With a wonderful pair of melodies that instil an uncanny sense of nostalgia that’s hard to place a finger on, but you’ll know what we mean when you hear it.

We’re incredibly pleased to have these finally come through on vinyl, having been itching to play a few of these in the dance, we’ve finally got the opportunity, and boy are some heads gonna be scratched in the coming months.